User:Nodoka Hanamura/Advanced Glossary

So you're wanting to sound more authentic with your roleplay, I get you. I've been a Military fanatic for years and know more realistic terms used in militaries around the world. This Glossary will provide words and details on tactics used by RL Militaries applied to Sirius, as well as terms for ships, combat and other things that I've used.

A

ANEMPS - Anti Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse System. Sometimes called ANEMP, a ANEMPS device is installed on a vessel for the purpose of protecting the vessel's astrionics and other subsystems from EMP damage. This is done by electrically charging the shield generated by the shield generator, which cancels out the effects of a Nuclear or even Non-Nuclear EMP, at the cost of a temporary shield failure. ANEMPS is best used when the vessel is in range of a NEMP Detonation or against NNEMP Devices, whereas a direct impact from a NEMP will cause catastrophic damage to most vessels due to the accompanying nuclear detonation.

Astrionics - Much like Avionics controls various parts of a aircraft's vital systems, Astrionics handles many of the same things, such as RCS Translation Control, Positional/Orientation Awareness, Navigation (Which on larger ships, due to the complement of hardware they usually have equipped, is a entirely seperate subsystem.) and IFF/ID response.

ASW/Anti-Shipping - A type of tasking that regards the engagement and destruction of hostile Capital Ships, Transports and other large vessels. Not to be Confused with a Fighter Sweep.

B

Beyond-the-Plane Flight - Much like Nap-of-the-earth flight on planets, Beyond the Plane Flight is used most commonly by Covert forces and Smugglers to quietly pass through systems undetected. However, this comes at the cost of inability to engage in Signals intelligence, as the ship is usually required to stay 10KSU above or below the plane to avoid detection. This kind of activity is not often used by militaries, as they usually will fit Covert/Spec Ops and EW vessels with EW equipment such as cloaks or ID Spoofers to avoid detection and engage in SIGINT/ELINT gathering.

C

CAP - Combat Area Patrol. Also known in real life as a Combat Air Patrol, a CAP comes in various forms, however, three are mostly common in Sirius.

CAP - A standard CAP is just your regular patrol, used to look for enemy forces.
BARCAP - Barrier CAP - Used to guard a area. This can be done in two ways. If you're guarding a system, A CAP that is within Detection range of any and all jumpholes/gates within said system could be called a BARCAP. If you're guarding a Installation and you are certain of the attack vector of a possible threat, A CAP set up between the installation and that vector would also be considered a BARCAP. 
HAVCAP - High Value Asset CAP - This is useful if you're part of a convoy. Send fighter wings to monitor ahead and around what you're protecting, and have them alert the fleet of any incoming threats or obstacles.

CBRN - Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear. A shorthand for unconventional weapons. NEMPs are a example of a CBRN weapon - Nuclear.

CCRP - Continuously Calculated Release Point - A point in space where it is optimal to release unguided munitions, such as Bombs and Rockets. This is usually calculated by the FCS, much like the Firing Solution for guns.

CCIP - Continuously Calculated Impact Point - A point marked on a heads up display where unguided munitions will most likely impact. This can be used as a synonym for Firing Solution, however, in real life, CCIP is used for unguided air-to-ground munitions, as is CCRP.

CIWS - Close In Weapons System - A weapons system designed for the sole purpose of unleashing as much fire as possible upon a target at close range, be it snubcraft or incoming munitions such as missiles or torpedoes. The most common CIWS system in Discovery is the Solaris turret and Solaris Gatling turrets. Flak guns, albeit unconventional when compared to most of them, can be used in a CIWS capacity to deflect incoming munitions or repel fighters, albeit with not as much efficiency as a usual Solaris CIWS setup.

-COM - Command. This suffix is used in militaries when referring to a command structure. for instance, LIBNAVCOM means Liberty Navy Command, and KUSNAVCOM means Kusari Naval Forces Command. (The reason that FOR isn't used, is that FORCOM usually refers to a forward command.)

E

EMP - ElectroMagnetic Pulse - A pulse of high-strength electromagnetic energy that follows a nuclear explosion or detonation of a special warhead that eminates a Non-Nuclear EMP or NNEMP. Such a pulse is fatal to electronics that are not hardened against EMPs - the results of a EMP can range from slight malfunction, to catastrophic loss of equipment.

Electronic Warfare/EW - Electronic Warfare is a kind of warfare that ties closely to SIGINT and ELINT (Signals Intelligence and Electronic Intelligence). The use of Cloaks and Jamming enemy communications are examples of Electronic Warfare and Electronic Countermeasures, which is often shortened to EW and ECM respectively.

ELINT - ELectronic Signals Intelligence - ELINT is the act of monitoring Electromagnetic data for the purpose of obtaining intelligence on enemy movement patterns, weapons deployment and other useful data through the use of sensors. ESM is a form of ELINT that is used to provide support to vessels in the field.

ESM - Electronic Support/Surveillance Measures - ESM, most commonly used in full as Electronic Support Measures, is technology and techniques used to bolster the sensor and tactical capability of units through the sharing of information through a data-link. The use of Groups in Freelancer allows for basic ESM Support, extending the range of the Scanners in regards to locating allied vessels to well beyond the standard 15K Maximum provided by High-end scanning radars, as well as allowing a commanding officer to designate a priority target on demand.

F

FCS - Fire Control System. Just like it says, the FCS handles the targeting of ships and the release, guidance and firing solution calculation of weapons.

FCR - Fire Control Radar. Also called the tracking radar, it is used to actually lock targets. The range to get a lock is 10KSU.

Firing Solution - A firing solution is the calculated best orientation of a weapon to release for a direct hit. This takes into account the speed and direction of flight of the target, as well as the velocity of the munitions being fired. This is shown in game by the + symbol that appears when a target is FCS Locked (Selected to target ingame).

Fighter Sweep - A type of tasking where Allied fighters and other elements such as gunboats engage and destroy hostile vessels in enemy territory.

I

IFF - Identification Friend or Foe - A system used to determine if a vessel is friendly or hostile at a glance. However, this mustn't be used as your only method of determining if a vessel is friendly or hostile. For instance, the OCV Akhmim, commanded by Order Captain Vex Upsilon had continued to squawk a Order IFF and ID to Zoner, Core and Auxesian vessels during the Defense of Port Carthage, however, Upsilon and her ship had, days prior, defied the orders of Order Command, leading to the Akhmim aiding the defenders, against Admiral Golanski's wishes.

P

PSK - Pre-shared Key. In computing, PSK-type key handshakes are highly common, due to their reliability and simplicity. Pre-shared keys are simple. Say Nodoka opens a communication to The Council using the Ageira BASE-2048bit PSK encryption method. Nodoka's Neural Net Device sends the Council what is called a "Public Key". This key is used to encrypt messages sent on that channel. However, to decrypt and understand said messages requires both devices to solve the private key - which is done by using the encryption algorithm on both the public key and the "secret", a string of data that is used to calculate the Private key. Once both devices have completed the Public handshake, they proceed to both solve for the private key. Once that is done, a secure connection is set up. However, in Real life (because the admins would rip you a new one for meta-gaming comms threads without authorization from both parties - Sucks to be a lane hacker, I bet), Exploits in the algorhithms and other security risks can compromise your communications.

Playtime - Playtime is a term used by Real life militaries to state how much time they have to be "on station", or to be in the area of operations.

R

Rolex - Much like the name implies, Rolex is a phrase that is used to refer to the time since or time until a event. This is stated as Rolex -/+0000, where +0050 for instance would mean 50 minutes from now, and -0110 would mean 1 hour, 10 minutes ago.

S

The Konpaku Detonation occured on November 9th, 824 AS, and is the biggest recorded catastrophic failure of a fighter vessel on record. The ship had been carrying a large amount of Nuclear and Anti-Matter munitions to defeat a Nomad element in Omicron Delta, only for the vessel's reactor to suffer a catastrophic failure. The Pilot, Nodoka Hanamura, had safely ejected moments before its' destruction. The detonation had created a fireball at least 3km in diameter, visible as far as Dabadoru Station.

Siege - An Attack against a Installation for the sole purpose of its' destruction. Some ships, such as the Liberty Navy Archer-class Siege Cruiser are designed for the sole purpose of destroying installations, using their massive forward cannon, which can unleash devestating damage to a installation's hull integrity.

SCRAM - Safety Control Rods Activation Mechanism. Most ships in sirius rely on some kind of Nuclear power to power them, some using Hydrogen Fusion via H-Fuel, or some other method. To initiate SCRAM means to shut down the reactor rapidly as to avoid a catastrophic failure. This can be used in roleplay to declare that you have been "soft-killed". This means that you are merely rendered unable to continue operating the vessel under safe conditions and have to kill your ship. Depending on the vessel, you may have a battery backup for life support and other vital systems. This should be used in situations where you're not hard-killed, where your character just outright dies.

SIGINT - SIGnals INTelligence, essentially, the act of listening in on communications for the purpose of gathering intelligence. A Core Vessel that is cloaked and listening to Order Pilots talking would be a example of SIGINT, which falls under the larger umbrellas of Electronic Warfare and Espionage. Not to be confused with ELINT, which is the act of monitoring Electromagnetic data for the purpose of obtaining intelligence on enemy movement patterns, weapons deployment and other useful data.

SEID/DEID - Suppression of Installation Defenses/Destruction of Enemy Installation Defenses. Much like SEAD and DEAD, the atmospheric equivalent regarding the suppression and destruction of enemy Air Defenses, SEID and DEID regard the suppression or destruction of a installation's defenses, such as Weapons Platforms, on board weapons defense systems and mines. This is usually done to allow for ships to board the installation and capture it, or if during a siege, Destroy the installation.

SU - Sirian Unit. A measurement of distance between two solar objects in Sirius that are not within 1000 meters of each other. A vessel that is 5.0K away in game is 5KSU away or 5,000 Sirian Units/meters away.

T

Tasking - A "Sub-mission" designated for certain units that are tasked as part of a larger mission. For instance, Fighters and Gunboats may be given a tasking for a fighter sweep and/or Escorting bombers, Bombers may be given a tasking to engage in Anti-shipping and Capital ships may be given a tasking to engage in Naval Warfare. These seperate sub-missions for each set of units are commonly called "taskings", as they are a "task" originating from a smaller mission.

U

UNICOM - Universal Communications. A Faction's UNICOM (Zoner UNICOM, Order UNICOM, LPI UNICOM) UNICOM channel is used as a way to send the message to all members of said faction.

V

Volley Launch - A type of anti-shipping tactic that is used to saturate the enemy with torpedoes and other munitions as to guarantee an impact. A flight of Three Roc Bombers releasing two sets of Nova Torpedos in unison is considered a volley launch.

VLS - Vertical Launch System. A VLS, more commonly known as a VLS Cell, is a silo onboard capital ships that fires off missiles at a target. Examples of VLS weapons in Discovery are the Nightmare Torpedo and Desolator Missile.

*UNDER CONSTRUCTION*